1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the use of a combination of a sugar alcohol and D-tagatose in a variety of zero- or low-calorie beverages and food products. This invention particularly relates to a method of improving the taste of zero- or low-calorie beverages and food products, i.e., achieving a taste similar to that of a full-calorie beverage or food product, by including a blend of non-nutritive sweeteners, a sugar alcohol and D-tagatose in a zero- or low-calorie beverage or food product. This invention also particularly relates to the use of a combination of a sugar alcohol and D-tagatose to achieve a high quality zero- or low-calorie frozen carbonated beverage. This invention further relates to beverages and food products which include both a sugar alcohol and D-tagatose.
2. Related Background Art
Zero- or low-calorie beverages and food products are very popular. Such diet products typically contain, singularly or in blends, non-nutritive sweeteners such as aspartame, acesulfame-K, saccharin, sucralose and cyclamate. While consumers do not have to worry about calories, non-nutritive sweeteners are known to impart a taste different from that of full-calorie counterparts. So-called “diet taste” is commonly described as slow onset but lingering sweetness accompanied with a bitter and/or metallic undesirable aftertaste and a watery mouthfeel. Due to the greatly reduced sugar solid content, diet drinks also lack the body and/or thickness perception associated with full-calorie drinks. G. R. Shore, et al., “Taste and Mouthfeel in Low Calorie Soft Drinks”, Contribution of Low- and Non-Volatile Materials to the Flavor of Foods, W. Pickenhagen, ed., Allured Publishing Corp., pp. 119-123 (1996).
Zero- or low-calorie beverages and food products with tastes similar to those of full-calorie products are very desirable and have been sought after for quite some time. Currently, however, methods of improving taste have fallen short of achieving a taste similar to full-calorie products.
One option is to blend non-nutritive sweeteners. Many blends (e.g., aspartame and acesulfame-K) impart a higher degree of sweetness than individual sweeteners on an equal concentration basis. This synergistic effect results in sparing the amount of sweetener used in a given application and is therefore referred to as quantitative synergy. Blending also causes another kind of synergy, referred to as qualitative synergy, because the taste quality of the blend often is more rounded and of less bitter/metallic off-taste.
The beverage industry has taken advantage of these synergies and marketed many diet colas containing sweetener blends. “Blending the Taste Sensation”, Liquid Foods Int'l., vol. 3, no. 1, p. 31 (1999). For example, PepsiONE® (aspartame/acesulfame-K), Coke Light® (aspartame/acesulfame-K or sodium cyclamate/acesulfame-K/aspartame) and Diet Rite Cola® (sucralose/acesulfame-K) all contain sweetener blends. Sweetener blending can also enhance the shelf-life of diet cola, especially in cases where aspartame is used as a key sweetener. For example, most soda fountain diet colas in the United States contain aspartame, acesulfame-K, and sodium saccharin. When aspartame degrades, the other two stable sweeteners maintain a certain degree of sweet taste.
Another option is to include flavor enhancing additives. A myriad of such flavor enhancing additives have been identified to date. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,902,525 and 6,066,345, JPA 7-274829 and EP 0 759 273 relate to the addition of erythritol to beverages for purposes of flavor enhancement. Additionally, D-tagatose is known to produce improved flavor and mouthfeel at low doses with combinations of intense sweeteners.
Efforts in the beverage industry in the United States and abroad have produced taste-improved diet products. To date, however, there is simply no effective method of significantly improving the taste of zero- or low-calorie beverages and food products, i.e., achieving a taste similar or identical to that of full-calorie beverages and food products.
In addition, further problems arise when attempting to achieve zero- or low-calorie frozen carbonated beverages (FCBs), which are semi-frozen carbonated drinks dispensed from a FCB dispenser. Such beverages require bulk solutes to stabilize small ice crystals and to trap carbon dioxide for a good taste and a smooth texture. The most commonly employed bulk solute is sugar. However, sugar is caloric and is therefore not suitable for the formulation of zero- or low-calorie FCBs. Sugar alcohols, which are known to mimic the bulk properties of ordinary sugars and have fewer calories, also are less sweet and most have undesirable gastrointestinal effects when ingested at comparable levels to sugars. Thus, making diet FCBs has been very difficult due to the need for both bulk solutes and zero or low calories.